Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Jerrold Abeles ruled after a Sept. 10, 2026 hearing that Dr. Sandra Lee’s retaliation and discrimination lawsuit may proceed against the Los Angeles Community College District. The case is scheduled for trial on March 29, 2027, according to MyNewsLA.com.
The ruling left the district as the sole defendant by removing former Los Angeles Southwest College President Seher Awan and former LACCD Chancellor Francisco C. Rodriguez as individual defendants. The judge found that Lee had not shown conduct by either administrator meeting the applicable standard for personal liability, according to MyNewsLA.com. Lee filed the lawsuit in December 2023.
Claims remaining against the district
Lee, a Black psychology professor who has taught at Los Angeles Southwest College for more than 18 years, alleges that the district retaliated against her after she raised complaints about gender and racial discrimination. Her allegations include opposition from Awan when Lee sought a role connected to the college’s honors program and the removal of the psychology and addiction studies department from a consortium grant approval list shortly after Awan received notice of Lee’s complaints. Lee also alleges that Awan treated her hostilely in meetings and impeded her efforts to pursue opportunities within the district. Those allegations were described in accounts by MyNewsLA.com and Our Weekly.
Those accounts also report that Lee viewed Awan’s conduct, including a remark about colleagues working together, as part of a discriminatory and retaliatory pattern. The allegations have not been presented here as findings of fact.
Awan’s response
In a sworn declaration, Awan denied involvement in canceling Lee’s class. She characterized a remark about workplace collaboration as an appeal for professionalism rather than a reference to race or gender, according to Our Weekly. Lee’s account that Awan opposed her advancement and undermined her work remains an allegation, not a finding described in the ruling.
Legal and institutional context
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act treats employer liability and individual liability differently. In Jones v. The Lodge at Torrey Pines Partnership, the California Supreme Court held that supervisors cannot be held personally liable for retaliation under the statute, while the law can impose individual liability for some forms of harassment. That general legal background is summarized by the Shaw Law Group; the supplied materials do not establish that the judge relied on that decision as the precise basis for this ruling.
Los Angeles Southwest College is part of LACCD, which operates nine accredited colleges and serves more than 205,000 students, according to the district. Awan led Los Angeles Southwest College from July 2018 until her resignation in May 2022. Rodriguez retired as chancellor in November 2024 after more than 10 years in the position, the district said.
What the available faculty data show
The available state data provide workforce scale but not a racial- or gender-composition breakdown for full-time faculty at Los Angeles Southwest College. According to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office’s 2023-24 Academic Hiring Report, the Los Angeles district reported 2,338.83 total faculty FTEF, with 1,583.82 FTEF, or 68%, attributable to full-time faculty.
That report figure does not establish the racial or gender composition of Los Angeles Southwest College’s full-time faculty, nor does the supplied information provide a comparable statewide composition figure. It therefore offers institutional context for the case without resolving the broader demographic question.
